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SUMMER 



BY/ 

/ 

v 

JAMES THOMSON 



ILLUSTRATED 



§ostott 

ESTES AND LAURIAT 
PUBLISHERS 



OOPYftit 






Copyright, 1892, 
By ESTES and LAURIAT. 



Typography by J S. Gushing & Co., Boston. 
Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston. 




SUMMER. 



UROM brightening fields of ether fair dis- 
closed, 
Child of the sun, refulgent Summer comes, 
In pride of youth, and felt through Nature^s 

depth : 
He comes attended by the sultry hours. 
And ever fanning breezes, on his way ; 
7 



2rf)e Sea00n0» 



While, from his ardent look, the turning 

Spring 
Averts her blushful face ; and earth and skies, 
All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves. 
Hence, let me haste into the mid-wood 

shade. 
Where scarce a sunbeam wanders through 

the gloom ; 
And on the dark-green grass, beside the 

brink 
Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak 
Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large. 
And sing the glories of the circling year. 

Come, Inspiration! from thy hermit-seat, 
By mortal seldom found : may Fancy dare, 
From thy fixed serious eye, and raptured 

glance 
Shot on surrounding heaven, to steal one look 
Creative of the poet, every power 
Exalting to an ecstasy of soul. 

And thou, my youthful Muse's early friend. 
In whom the human graces all unite, — 
Pure light of mind, and tenderness of heart ; 
Genius, and wisdom ; the gay social sense, 
8 



Summer* 



By decency chastised ; goodness and wit, 
In seldom-meeting harmony combined ; 
Unblemished honour, and an active zeal, 
For Britain's glory, liberty, and man, — 
O Dodington! attend my rural song. 
Stoop to my theme, inspirit every line. 
And teach me to deserve thy just applause. 

With what an awful world-revolving Power 
Were first the unwieldy planets launched 

along 
The illimitable void ! thus to remain. 
Amid the flux of many thousand years. 
That oft has swept the toiling race of men. 
And all their laboured monuments away. 
Firm, unremitting, matchless, in their course ; 
To the kind-tempered change of night and 

day, 
And of the seasons ever stealing round, 
Minutely faithful : such the all-perfect hand, 
That poised, impels, and rules the steady 

whole. 
When now no more the alternate twins are 

fired, 
And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze, 

9 



Wi}z Seasons. 



Short is the doubtful empire of the night ; 
And soon, observant of approaching day, 
Tlie meek-eyed morn appears, mother of dews, 
At first faint-gleaming in the dappled east : 
Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glow, 
And, from before the lustre of her face. 
White break the clouds away. With quick- 
ened step, 
Brown night retires. Young day pours in 

apace. 
And opens all the lawny prospect wide. 
The dripping rock, the mountain's misty top, 
Swell on the sight, and brighten with the 

dawn. 
Blue, through the dusk, the smoking currents 

shine ; 
And from the bladed field the fearful hare 
Limps, awkward ; while along the forest-glade 
The wild deer trip, and, often turning, gaze 
At early passenger. Music awakes, 
The native voice of undissembled joy ; 
And thick around the woodland hymns arise. 
Roused by the cock, the soon-clad shepherd 
leaves 

ro 



Summer^ 



His mossy cottage, where with peace he 

dwells ; 
And from the crowded fold, in order, drives 
His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn. 

Falsely luxurious, will not man awake. 
And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy 
The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour, 
To meditation due, and sacred song? 
For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise ? 
To lie in dead oblivion, losing half 
The fleeting moments of too short a life, — 
Total extinction of the enlightened soul ! 
Or else, to feverish vanity alive, 
Wildered, and tossing through distempered 

dreams ! 
Who would in such a gloomy state remain 
Longer than Nature craves ; when every muse 
And every blooming pleasure wait without, 
To bless the wildly devious morning-walk? 

But yonder comes the powerful king of day, 
Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud. 
The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow 
Illumed with fluid gold, his near approach 
Betoken glad. Lo ! now apparent all, 
13 



Wi)t Seagong* 



Aslant the dew-bright earth and coloured 

air, 
He looks in boundless majesty abroad ; 
And sheds the shining day, that burnished 

plays 
On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering 

streams. 
High-gleaming from afar. Prime cheerer, 

light ! 
Of all material beings first, and best ! 
Efflux divine! Nature^s resplendent robe ! 
Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapt 
In unessential gloom ; and thou, O sun ! 
Soul of surrounding worlds, in whom best 

seen 
Shines out thy Maker, may I sing of thee ? 

'T is by thy secret, strong, attractive force, 
As with a chain indissoluble bound, 
Thy system rolls entire ; from the far bourn 
Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round 
Of thirty years, to Mercury, whose disk 
Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye. 
Lost in the near effulgence of thy blaze. 
Informer of the planetary train, 
14 



<Sttmtner» 



Without whose quickening glance their cum- 
brous orbs 
Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead, 
And not as now the green abodes of life, 
How many forms of being wait on thee, 
Inhaling spirit ; from the unfettered mind. 
By thee sublimed, down to the daily race. 
The mixing myriads of thy setting beam. 

The vegetable world is also thine. 
Parent of seasons ! who the pomp precede 
That waits thy throne, as through thy vast 

domain, 
Annual, along the bright ecliptic-road. 
In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime. 
Meantime the expecting nations, circled gay 
With all the various tribes of foodful earth. 
Implore thy bounty, or send grateful up 
A common hymn: while, round thy beaming 

car, 
High-seen, the seasons lead, in sprightly dance 
Harmonious knit, the rosy-fingered hours. 
The zephyrs floating loose, the timely rains. 
Of bloom ethereal the light-footed dews. 
And, softened into joy, the surly storms. 
15 



Wi)z Reasons* 



These, in successive turn^ with lavish hand, 
Shower every beauty, every fragrance shower, 
Herbs, flowers, and fruits ; till, kindling at thy 

touch. 
From land to land is flushed the vernal year. 

Nor to the surface of enlivened earth, 
Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy 

woods — 
Her liberal tresses — is thy force confined : 
But, to the bowelled cavern darting deep, 
The mineral kinds confess thy mighty power, 
EiTulgent, hence the veiny marble shines ; 
Hence Labour draws his tools ; hence bur- 
nished War 
Gleams on the day ; the nobler works of Peace 
Hence bless mankind, and generous Com- 
merce binds 
The round of nations in a golden chain. 

The unfruitful rock itself impregned by thee, 
In dark retirement, forms the lucid stone. 
The lively diamond drinks thy purest rays, 
Collected light, compact ; that, polished 

bright. 
And all its native lustre let abroad, 
i6 



Sutnmet* 



Dares, as it sparkles on the fair one's breast, 
With vain ambition emulate her eyes. 
At thee the ruby lights its deepening glow, 
And with a waving radiance inward flames. 
From thee the sapphire, solid ether, takes 




Its hue cerulean ; and, of evening tinct. 
The purple-streaming amethyst is thine. 
With thy own smile the yellow topaz burns ; 
17 



Cfje Seasons* 



Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring, 
When first she gives it to the southern gale, 
Than the green emerald shows. But, all com- 
bined, 
Thick through the whitening opal play thy 

beams ; 
Or, flying several from its surface, form 
A trembling variance of revolving hues, 
As the site varies in the gazer's hand. 

The very dead creation, from thy touch, 
Assumes a mimic life. By thee refined. 
In brighter mazes, the relucent stream 
Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt, 
Projecting horror on the blackened flood. 
Softens at thy return. The desert joys. 
Wildly, through all his melancholy bounds. 
Rude ruins glitter ; and the briny deep. 
Seen from some pointed promontory's top. 
Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge. 
Restless, reflects a floating gleam. But this. 
And all the much-transported Muse can sing. 
Are to thy beauty, dignity, and use 
Unequal far, — great delegated source 
Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below! 
i8 



Slimmer* 



How shall I then attempt to sing of Him, 
Who, Light Himself, in uncreated light 
Invested deep, dwells awfully retired 
From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken ; 
Whose single smile has, from the first of time, 
Filled, overflowing, all those lamps of heaven 
That beam forever through the boundless sky : 
But, should he hide his face, the astonished 

sun. 
And all the extinguished stars, would, loosen- 
ing, reel 
Wide from their spheres, and chaos come 
again. 
And yet was every faltering tongue of man, 
Almighty Father! silent in thy praise, 
Thy works themselves would raise a general 

voice ; 
E'en in the depth of solitary woods, 
By human foot untrod, proclaim thy power, 
And to the choir celestial thee resound, 
The Eternal Cause, Support, and End of all! 
To me be Nature's volume broad displayed ; 
And to peruse its all-instructing page. 
Or, haply catching inspiration thence, 
19 



Cf)0 Seasons, 



Some easy passage, raptured, to translate, 
My sole delight ; as through the falling glooms 
Pensive I stray, or with the rising dawn 
On fancy's eagle-wing excursive soar. 

Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent sun 
Melts into limpid air the high-raised clouds, 
And morning fogs, that hovered round the 

hills 
In party-coloured bands ; till wide unveiled 
The face of Nature shines, from where earth 

seems, 
Far-stretched around, to meet the bending 

sphere. 
Half in a blush of clustering roses lost. 
Dew-dropping coolness to the shade retires ; 
There, on the verdant turf, or flowery bed. 
By gelid founts and careless rills to muse ; 
While tyrant heat, dispreading through the 

sky. 
With rapid sway, his burning influence darts 
On man, and beast, and herb, and tepid 

stream. 
Who can, unpitying, see the flowery race, 
Shed by the morn, their new-flushed bloom 

resign, 20 



Summer* 



Before the parching beam ? so fade the fair, 
When fevers revel through their azure veins. 
But one, the lofty follower of the sun, 
Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves. 
Drooping all night ; and, when he warm re- 
turns. 
Points her enamoured bosom to his ray. 
Home, from his morning task, the swain 
retreats, 
His flock before him stepping to the fold : 
While the full-uddered mother lows around 
The cheerful cottage, then expecting food, — 
The food of innocence and health ! The 

daw. 
The rook, and magpie, to the grey-grown 

oaks 
(That the calm village in their verdant arms, 
Sheltering, embrace) direct their lazy flight ; 
Where on the mingling boughs they sit em- 
bowered, 
All the hot noon, till cooler hours arise. 
Faint, underneath, the household fowls con- 
vene ; 
And, in a corner of the buzzing shade, 
23 



2ri}e Seasons* 



The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound, 

hes, 
Outstretched and sleepy. In his slumbers 

one 
Attacks the nightly thief, and one exults 
O'er hill and dale ; till, wakened by the wasp, 
They starting snap. Nor shall the Muse dis- 
dain 
To let the little noisy summer race 
Live in her lay, and flutter through her song. 
Not mean though simple : to the sun allied, 
From him they draw their animating fire. 
Waked by his warmer ray, the reptile 
young 
Come winged abroad ; by the light air up- 
borne, 
Lighter, and full of soul. From every chink 
And secret corner, where they slept away 
The wintry storms ; or, rising from their 

tombs. 
To higher life, by myriads, forth at once. 
Swarming they pour ; of all the varied hues 
Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose. 
Ten thousand forms, ten thousand different 
tribes, 24 



Summer* 




People the blaze. To sunny waters some 
By fatal instinct fly : where on the pool 
They, sportive, wheel ; or, sailing down the 

stream. 
Are snatched immediate by the quick-eyed 

trout, 
Or darting salmon. Through the green-wood 

glade 

25 



3Cf}0 Seagons* 



Some love to stray ; there lodged, amused, 

and fed, 
In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make 
The meads their choice, and visit every 

flower, 
And every latent herb : for the sweet task. 
To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap, 
In what soft beds, their young, yet undis- 
closed. 
Employs their tender care. Some to the 

house. 
The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their 

flight; 
Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling 

cheese ; 
Oft, inadvertent, from the milky stream 
They meet their fate ; or, weltering in the 

bowl. 
With powerless wings around them wrapt, 

expire. 
But chief to heedless flies the window proves 
A constant death ; where, gloomily retired. 
The villain spider lives, cunning and fierce, 
Mixture abhorred ! amid a mangled heap 
26 



Summer* 



Of carcasses, in eager watch he sits, 
Overlooking all his waving snares around. 
Near the dire cell the dreadless wanderer oft 
Passes ; as oft the ruffian shows his front. 
The prey at last ensnared, he dreadful darts. 
With rapid glide, along the leaning line ; 
And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs, 
Strikes backward^ grimly pleased : the flutter- 
ing wing 
And shriller sound declare extreme distress, 
And ask the helping hospitable hand. 

Resounds the living surface of the ground : 
Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum. 
To him who muses through the woods at 

noon ; 
Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclined, 
With half-shut eyes, beneath the floating 

shade 
Of willows grey, close crowding o'er the 
brook. 
Gradual, from these what numerous kinds 
descend. 
Evading even the microscopic eye! 
Full nature swarms with life ; one wondrous 
mass 27 



Wcjt Seasons* 



Of animals, or atoms organised, 
Waiting the vital breath, when Parent Heaven 
Shall bid his spirit blow. The hoary fen. 
In putrid streams, emits the living cloud 
Of pestilence. Through subterranean cells, 
Where searching sunbeams scarce can find 

a way, 
Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf 
Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure, 
Within its winding citadel, the stone 
Holds multitudes. But chief the forest 

boughs, 
That dance unnumbered to the playful breeze. 
The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 
Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed 
Of evanescent insects. Where the pool 
Stands mantled o^er with green, invisible 
Amid the floating verdure millions stray. 
Each liquid too, whether it pierces, soothes. 
Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste, 
With various forms abounds. Nor is the 

stream 
Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air. 
Though one transparent vacancy it seems, 
28 



Summer* 



Void of their unseen people. These, con- 
cealed 
By the kind of art of forming Heaven, escape 
The grosser eye of man : for, if the worlds 
In worlds enclosed should on his senses 

burst, 
From cates ambrosial, and the nectared bowl, 
He would abhorrent turn ; and in dead night. 
When silence sleeps o^er all, be stunned with 
noise. 
Let no presuming impious railer tax 
Creative Wisdom, as if aught was formed 
In vain, or not for admirable ends. 
Shall little haughty Ignorance pronounce 
His works unwise, of which the smallest 

part 
Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind ? 
As if upon a full proportioned dome. 
On swelling columns heaved, the pride of art, 
A critic fly, whose feeble ray scarce spreads 
An inch around, with blind presumption bold. 
Should dare to tax the structure of the whole. 
And lives the man, whose universal eye 
Has swept at once the unbounded scheme of 
things; 31 



Wi)z Seasons* 



Marked their dependence so, and firm accord, 
As with unfaltering accent to conclude 
That this availeth naught? Has any seen 
The mighty chain of beings, lessening down 
From infinite perfection to the brink 
Of dreary nothing, — desolate abyss! 
From which astonished thought, recoiling, 

turns ? 
Till then, alone let zealous praise ascend. 
And hymns of holy wonder, to that Power, 
Whose wisdom shines as lovely on our minds, 
As on our smiling eyes his servant sun. 

Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand 
ways. 
Upward and downward, thwarting and con- 
volved, 
The quivering nations sport ; till, tempest 

winged, 
Fierce winter sweeps them from the face of 

day. 
Even so luxurious men, unheeding, pass 
An idle summer life in fortune's shine, — 
A season's glitter ! Thus they flutter on 
From toy to toy, from vanity to vice ; 
32 



<Siitnmer» 



Till, blown away by death, Oblivion comes 
Behind, and strikes them from the book of life. 




Now swarms the village o'er the jovial 
mead : 
The rustic youth, brown with meridian toil, 
Healthful and strong ; full as the summer- 
rose 33 



2EI}e Seasons. 



Blown by prevailing suns, the ruddy maid, 
Half naked, swelling on the sight, and all 
Her kindled graces burning o^er her cheek. 
Even stooping age is here ; and infant-hands 
Trail the long rake, or with the fragrant load 
Overcharged, amid the kind oppression roll. 
Wide flies the tedded grain ; all in a row 
Advancing broad, or wheeling round the 

field, 
They spread the breathing harvest to the sun, 
That throws refreshful round a rural smell : 
Or, as they rake the green-appearing ground, 
And drive the dusky wave along the mead. 
The russet haycock rises thick behind. 
In order gay : while heard from dale to dale. 
Waking the breeze, resounds the blended 

voice 
Of happy labour, love, and social glee. 

Or rushing thence, in one diffusive band. 
They drive the troubled flocks, by many a 

dog 
Compelled, to where the mazy-running brook 
Forms a deep pool ; this bank abrupt and 

high, 

34 



Slimmer. 



And that fair-spreading in a pebbled shore. 
Urged to the giddy brink, much is the toil, 
The clamour much of men and boys and dogs, 
Ere the soft fearful people to the flood 
Commit their woolly sides. And oft the 

swain, 
On some, impatient, seizing, hurls them in : 
Emboldened then, nor hesitating more. 
Fast, fast, they plunge amid the flashing 

wave, 
And, panting, labour to the farther shore. 
Repeated this, till deep the well-washed fleece 
Has drunk the flood, and from his lively 

haunt. 
The trout is banished by the sordid stream. 
Heavy, and dripping, to the breezy brow 
Slow move the harmless race : where, as they 

spread 
Their swelling treasures to the sunny ray, 
Inly disturbed, and wondering what this wild 
Outrageous tumult means, their loud com- 
plaints 
The country fill ; and, tossed from rock to 
rock, 

3S 



Cfje Seasons. 



Incessant bleatings run around the hills. 
At last, of snowy white, the gathered flocks 
Are in the wattled pen, innumerous, pressed, 
Head above head : and, ranged in lusty rows, 
The shepherds sit, and whet the sounding 

shears. 
The housewife waits to roll her fleecy stores, 
With all her gay-drest maids attending round. 
One, chief, in gracious dignity enthroned. 
Shines o^er the rest, the pastoral queen, and 

rays 
Her smiles, sweet-beaming, on her shepherd- 
king ; 
While the glad circle round them yield their 

souls 
To festive mirth, and wit that knows no gall. 
Meantime, their joyous task goes on apace : 
Some mingling stir the melted tar, and some. 
Deep on the new-shorn vagrant's heaving 

side, 
To stamp his master's cipher ready stand ; 
Others the unwilling wether drag along ; 
And, glorying in his might, the sturdy boy 
Holds by the twisted horns the indignant ram. 

36 



Summer* 



Behold where bound, and of its robe bereft, 
By needy man, that all-depending lord. 
How meek, how patient, the mild creature 

lies! 
What softness in its melancholy face, 
What dumb complaining innocence appears! 
Fear not, ye gentle tribes, 't is not the knife 
Of horrid slaughter that is o'er you waved ; 
No, 't is the tender swain's well-guided shears, 
Who having now, to pay his annual care, 
Borrowed your fleece, to you a cumbrous load. 
Will send you bounding to your hills again. 
A simple scene ! yet hence Britannia sees 
Her solid grandeur rise : hence she com- 
mands 
The exalted stores of every brighter cHme, 
The treasures of the sun without his rage : 
Hence, fervent all, with culture, toil, and 

arts, 
Wide glows her land : her dreadful thunder 

hence 
Rides o'er the waves sublime, and now, even 

now. 
Impending hangs o'er Gallia's humbled coast : 
39 



SDfjE Seasons. 



Hence rules the circling deep, and awes the 
world. 
'T is raging noon ; and, vertical, the sun 
Darts on the head direct his forceful rays. 
O^er heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye 
Can sweep, a dazzling deluge reigns ; and all, 
From pole to pole, is undistinguished blaze. 
In vain the sight, dejected to the ground. 
Stoops for relief ; thence hot-ascending steams 
And keen reflection pain. Deep to the root 
Of vegetation parched, the cleaving fields 
And slippery lawn an arid hue disclose. 
Blast fancy's blooms, and wither even the 

soul. 
Echo no more returns the cheerful sound 
Of sharpening scythe : the mower, sinking, 

heaps 
O'er him the humid hay, with flowers per- 
fumed ; 
And scarce a chirping grasshopper is heard 
Through the dumb mead. Distressful nature 

pants. 
The very streams look languid from afar ; 
Or, through the unsheltered glade, impatient, 
seem 40 



Summer^ 



To hurl into the covert of the grove. 

All-conquering heat, O, intermit thy wrath ! 
And on my throbbing temples, potent thus, 
Beam not so fierce ! incessant still you flow. 




And still another fervent flood succeeds, 
Poured on the head profuse. In vain I sigh. 
And restless turn, and look around for night ; 
Night is far off; and hotter hours approach. 
Thrice happy he, who, on the sunless side 
41 



2rf}e &zamn^. 



Of a romantic mountain, forest-crowned, 
Beneath the whole collected shade reclines : 
Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought, 
And fresh bedewed with ever-spouting 

streams. 
Sits coolly calm ; while all the world without, 
Unsatisfied, and sick, tosses in noon. 
Emblem instructive of the virtuous man. 
Who keeps his tempered mind serene and 

pure. 
And every passion aptly harmonised, 
Amid a jarring world with vice inflamed. 
Welcome, ye shades! ye bowery thickets, 
hail! 
Ye lofty pines ! ye venerable oaks ! 
Ye ashes wild, resounding o'er the steep! 
Delicious is your shelter to the soul. 
As to the hunted hart the sallying spring, 
Or stream full flowing, that his swelling sides 
Laves, as he floats along the herbaged brink. 
Cool, through the nerves, your pleasing com- 
fort glides ; 



42 



Summer, 



The heart beats glad ; the fresh-expanded eye 
And ear resume their watch ; the smews 

knit ; 
And life shoots swift through all the lightened 
limbs. 
Around the adjoining brook, that purls 
along 
The vocal grove, now fretting o^er a rock. 
Now scarcely moving through a reedy pool, 
Now starting to a sudden stream, and now 
Gently diffused into a limpid plain, 
A various group the herds and flocks com- 
pose, — 
Rural confusion! On the grassy bank 
Some ruminating lie ; while others stand 
Half in the flood, and, often bending, sip 
The circling surface. In the middle droops 
The strong, laborious ox, of honest front, 
Which, incomposed, he shakes ; and from 

his sides 
The troublous insects lashes with his tail. 
Returning still. Amid his subjects safe, 
Slumbers the monarch-swain ; his careless 



45 



^\)t Seasons* 



Thrown round his head, on downy moss sus- 
tained ; 
Here laid his scrip, with wholesome viands 

filled ; 
There, listening every noise, his watchful dog. 
Light fly his slumbers, if perchance a flight 
Of angry gad-flies fasten on the herd. 
That, startling, scatters from the shallow 

brook. 
In search of lavish stream. Tossing the 

foam. 
They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the 

plain 
Through all the bright severity of noon ; 
While, from their labouring breasts, a hollow 

moan 
Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the 

hills. 
Oft in this season, too, the horse, provoked, 
While his big sinews full of spirits swell. 
Trembling with vigour, in the heat of blood. 
Springs the high fence ; and, o'er the field 

effused. 
Darts on the gloomy flood, with steadfast eye, 

46 



Summer* 



And heart estranged to fear : his nervous 

chest, 
Luxuriant and erect, the seat of strength! 
Bears down the opposing stream ; quenchless 

his thirst, 
He takes the river at redoubled draughts ; 
And with wide nostrils, snorting, skims the 

wave. 
Still let me pierce into the midnight depth 
Of yonder grove, of wildest, largest growth ; 
That, forming high in air a woodland choir. 
Nods o'er the mount beneath. At every step, 
Solemn and slow, the shadows blacker fall. 
And all is awful listening gloom around. 

These are the haunts of meditation, these 
The scenes where ancient bards the inspiring 

Breath, 
Ecstatic, felt ; and, from this world retired. 
Conversed with angels, and immortal forms, 
On gracious errands bent : to save the fall 
Of virtue struggling on the brink of vice ; 
In waking whispers, and repeated dreams. 
To hint pure thought, and warn the favoured 

soul, 

47 



9Cf)e Seasons* 



For future trials fated, to prepare ; 

To prompt the poet, who, devoted, gives 

His muse to better themes ; to soothe the 

pangs 
Of dying worth, and from the patriot's breast 
(Backward to mingle in detested war, 
But foremost when engaged) to turn the 

death ; 
And numberless such offices of love, 
Daily and nightly, zealous to perform. 

Shook sudden from the bosom of the sky, 
A thousand shapes or glide athwart the dusk. 
Or stalk majestic on. Deep-roused, I feel 
A sacred terror, a severe delight. 
Creep through my mortal frame ; and thus, 

methinks, 
A voice, than human more, the abstracted ear 
Of fancy strikes. '' Be not of us afraid, 
Poor kindred man ! thy fellow-creatures, we 
From the same Parent Power our beings 

drew; 
The same our Lord, and laws, and great pur- 
suit. 
Once some of us, like thee, through stormy 
life, 48 



.Slimmer* 



Toiled, tempest-beaten, ere we could attain 
This holy calm, this harmony of mind, 
Where purity and peace immingle charms. 
Then fear not us ; but with responsive song, 
Amid these dim recesses, undisturbed 




By noisy folly and discordant vice. 
Of Nature sing with us, and Nature's God. 
Here frequent, at the visionary hour. 
When musing midnight reigns, or silent noon, 
49 



2tf}e Seasons, 



Angelic harps are in full concert heard, 
And voices chanting from the wood-crowned 

hill, 
The deepening dale, or inmost sylvan glade ; 
A privilege bestowed by us, alone, 
On contemplation, or the hallowed ear 
Of poet, swelling to seraphic strain." 

And art thou, Stanley, of that sacred band? 
Alas, for us too soon! — though raised above 
The reach of human pain, above the flight 
Of human joy, yet, with a mingled ray 
Of sadly pleased remembrance, must thou feel 
A mother's love, a mother's tender woe? 
Who seeks thee still, in many a former scene ; 
Seeks thy fair form, thy lovely beaming eyes, 
Thy pleasing converse, by gay lively sense 
Inspired ; where moral wisdom mildly shone. 
Without the toil of art, and virtue glowed, 
In all her smiles, without forbidding pride. 
But, O thou best of parents, wipe thy tears ! 
Or rather to parental nature pay 
The tears of grateful joy, who, for a while. 
Lent thee this younger self, this opening 

bloom 

50 



r^t> 



T?^^ 




Summer* 



Of thy enlightened mind and gentle worth. 
Believe the Muse : the wintry blast of death 
Kills not the buds of virtue ; no, they spread, 
Beneath the heavenly beam of brighter suns, 
Through endless ages, into higher powers. 

Thus up the mount, in airy vision rapt, 
I stray, regardless whither ; till the sound 
Of a near fall of water every sense 
Wakes from the charm of thought : swift- 
shrinking back 
I check my steps, and view the broken scene. 
Smooth to the shelving brink a copious 
flood 
Rolls fair and placid ; where, collected all 
In one impetuous torrent, down the steep 
It thundering shoots, and shakes the country 

round. 
At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad ; 
Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, 
And from the loud-resounding rocks below 
Dashed in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft 
A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shoAver. 
Nor can the tortured wave here find repose : 
But, raging still amid the shaggy rocks, 
53 



STfje &tmm^\ 



Now flashes o'er the scattered fragments, now 
Aslant the hollow channel rapid darts ; 
And falling fast from gradual slope to slope, 
With wild infracted course and lessened roar, 
It gains a safer bed, and steals, at last, 
Along the mazes of the quiet vale. 

Invited from the cliff, to whose dark brow 
He clings, the steep-ascending eagle soars, 
With upward pinions, through the flood of 

day; 
And, giving full his bosom to the blaze, 
Gains on the sun ; while all the tuneful race, 
Smit by afflictive noon, disordered droop, 
Deep in the thicket ; or, from bower to bower 
Responsive, force an interrupted strain. 
The stock-dove only through the forest cooes. 
Mournfully hoarse ; oft ceasing from his 

plaint, 
Short interval of weary woe ! again 
The sad idea of his murdered mate. 
Struck from his side by savage fowler's guile, 
Across his fancy comes : and then resounds 
A louder song of sorrow through the grove. 

Beside the dewy border let me sit, 
54 



Summer* 



All in the freshness of the humid air : 

There on that hollowed rock; grotesque and 

wild, 
An ample chair moss-lined, and overhead 
By flowering umbrage shaded ; where the bee 
Strays diligent, and with the extracted balm 
Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh. 
Now, while I taste the sweetness of the 
shade. 
While Nature lies around deep-lulled in noon, 
Now come, bold fancy, spread a daring flight, 
And view the wonders of the Torrid Zone : 
Climbs unrelenting ! with whose rage com- 
pared. 
Yon blaze is feeble, and yon skies are cool. 
See, how at once the bright effulgent sun, 
Rising direct, swift chases from the sky 
The short-lived twilight ; and with ardent 

blaze 
Looks gayly fierce o^er all the dazzling air. 
He mounts his throne ; but kind before him 

sends. 
Issuing from out the portals of the morn, 
The general breeze, to mitigate his fire, 
55 



Cf}e Seasons* 



And breathe refreshment on a fainting world. 
Great are the scenes, with dreadful beauty 

crowned 
And barbarous wealth, that see, each circling 

year 
Returning suns and double seasons pass 
Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with 

mines. 
That on the high equator, ridgy, rise. 
Whence many a bursting stream auriferous 

plays ; 
Majestic woods, of every vigorous green, 
Stage above stage, high waving o'er the hills ; 
Or to the far horizon wide-diffused, 
A boundless deep immensity of shade. 
Here lofty trees, to ancient song unknown, 
The noble sons of potent heat and floods 
Prone-rushing from the clouds, rear high to 

heaven 
Their thorny stems, and broad around them 

throw 
Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime. 
Unnumbered fruits of keen delicious taste 
And vital spirit, drink, amid the cliffs 
S6 



Summer* 



And burning sands that bank the shrubby 

vales, 
Redoubled day, yet in their rugged coats 
A friendly juice, to cool its rage, contain. 

Bear me, Pomona, to thy citron groves ; 
To where the lemon and the piercing lime, 
With the deep orange, glowing through the 

green. 
Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclined 
Beneath the spreading tamarind, that shakes. 
Fanned by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit. 
Deep in the night the massy locust sheds. 
Quench my hot limbs ; or lead me through 

the maze. 
Embowering endless, of the Indian fig; 
Or thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow, 
Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cooled, 
Broad o'er my head the verdant cedar wave, 
And high palmettoes lift their graceful shade. 
O, stretched amid these orchards of the sun. 
Give me to drain the cocoa^s milky bowl. 
And from the palm to draw its freshening 

wine ; 
More bounteous far than all the frantic juice 
59 



Wi}z Seasons* 



Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its slender 

twigs 
Low-bending, be the full pomegranate scorned ; 
Nor, creeping through the woods, the gelid 

race 
Of berries. Oft in humble station dwells 
Unboastful worth, above fastidious pomp. 
Witness, thou best Anana, thou the pride 
Of vegetable life, beyond whatever 
The poets imaged in the Golden Age : 
Quick let me strip thee of thy tufty coat. 
Spread thy ambrosial stores, and feast with 
Jove ! 
From these the prospect varies. Plains im- 
mense 
Lie stretched below, interminable meads, 
And vast savannas, where the wandering eye. 
Unfixed, is in a verdant ocean lost. 
Another Flora there, of bolder hues. 
And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride. 
Plays o'er the fields, and showers with sudden 

hand 
Exuberant Spring : for oft these valleys shift 
Their green embroidered robe to fiery brown, 
60 



Summer. 



And swift to green again, as scorching suns, 
Or streaming dews and torrent rains, prevail. 
Along these lonely regions, where, retired 
From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells 
In awful solitude, and naught is seen 
But the wild herds that own no master^s stall, 
Prodigious rivers roll their fattening seas : 
On whose luxuriant herbage, half-concealed, 
Like a fallen cedar, far diffused his train. 
Cased in green scales, the crocodile extends. 
The flood disparts : behold ! in plaited mail 
Behemoth rears his head. Glanced from his 

side. 
The darted steel in idle shivers flies : 
He fearless walks the plain, or seeks the hills ; 
Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds, 
In widening circle round, forget their food. 
And at the harmless stranger wondering gaze. 

Peaceful, beneath primeval trees that cast 
Their ample shade o'er Niger's yellow stream, 
And where the Ganges rolls his sacred wave ; 
Or, mid the central depth of blackening woods. 
High raised in solemn theatre around. 
Leans the huge elephant : wisest of brutes! 
6i 



2rf}e Seasons* 



O truly wise, with gentle might endowed, 
Though powerful, not destructive ! Here he 

sees 
Revolving ages sweep the changeful earth, 
And empires rise and fall ; regardless he 
Of what the never-resting race of men 
Project: thrice happy! could he 'scape their 

guile. 
Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps ; 
Or with his towery grandeur swell their state, 
The pride of kings ! or else his strength per- 
vert. 
And bid him rage amid the mortal fray. 
Astonished at the madness of mankind. 
Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the 
floods. 
Like vivid blossoms glowing from afar. 
Thick swarm the brighter birds. For Na- 
ture's hand. 
That with a sportive vanity has decked 
The plumy nations, there her gayest hues 
Profusely pours. But, if she bids them shine. 
Arrayed in all the beauteous beams of day. 
Yet frugal still, she humbles them in song. 
62 



Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent 
Proud Montezuma-s reahn, whose legions cast 
A boundless radiance waving on the sun. 
While Philomel is ours ; while in our shades, 
Through the soft silence of the listening 
night, 




The sober-suited songstress trills her lay. 
But come, my Muse, the desert-barrier 
burst, 
A wild expanse of lifeless sand and sky ; 

63 



2D}}0 Seasons* 



And, swifter than the toiling caravan, 
Shoot o'er the vale of Sennar, ardent climb 
The Nubian mountains, and the secret bounds 
Of jealous Abyssinia boldly pierce. 
Thou art no ruffian, who beneath the mask 
Of social commerce com'st to rob their wealth ; 
No holy Fury thou, blaspheming Heaven, 
With consecrated steel to stab their peace, 
And through the land, yet red from civil 

wounds, 
To spread the purple tyranny of Rome. 
Thou, like the harmless bee, mayst freely 

range. 
From mead to mead bright with exalted 

flowers. 
From jasmine grove to grove ; mayst wander 

gay 

Through palmy shades and aromatic woods, 
That grace the plains, invest the peopled hills. 
And up the more than Alpine mountains wave. 
There on the breezy summit, spreading fair, 
For many a league ; or on stupendous rocks, 
That from the sun-redoubling valley lift, 
Cool to the middle air, their lawny tops ; 

64 



Stitntner* 



Where palaces, and fanes, and villas rise ; 
And gardens smile around, and cultured fields ; 
And fountains gush, and careless herds and 

flocks 
Securely stray, — a world within itself. 
Disdaining all assault, — there let me draw 
Ethereal soul, there drink reviving gales. 
Profusely breathing from the spicy groves, 
And vales of fragrance ; there at distance hear 
The roaring floods, and cataracts, that sweep 
From disembowelled earth the virgin gold ; 
And o'er the varied landscape, restless, rove, 
Fervent with life of every fairer kind : 
A land of wonders ! which the sun still eyes 
With ray direct, as of the lovely realm 
Enamoured, and delighting there to dwell. 
How changed the scene ! In blazing height 

of noon. 
The sun, oppressed, is plunged in thickest 

gloom. 
Still horror reigns, a dreary twilight round. 
Of struggling night and day malignant mixed. 
For to the hot equator crowding fast, 
Where, highly rarefied, the yielding air 
6s 



STi^e Seagons* 



Admits their stream, incessant vapours roll, 
Amazing clouds on clouds continual heaped ; 
Or whirled tempestuous by the gusty wind, 
Or silent borne along, heavy and slow, 
With the big stores of steaming oceans 

charged. 
Meantime, amid these upper seas, condensed 
Around the cold aerial mountain's brow. 
And by conflicting winds together dashed, 
The thunder holds his black tremendous 

throne ; 
From cloud to cloud the rending lightnings 

rage; 
Till, in the furious elemental war 
Dissolved, the whole precipitated mass 
Unbroken floods and solid torrents pours. 
The treasures these, hid from the bounded 

search 
Of ancient knowledge ; whence, with annual 

pomp. 
Rich king of floods! overflows the swelling 

Nile. 
From his two springs, in Gojam's sunny realm, 
Pure-welling out, he through the lucid lake 
66 



Summer^ 



Of fair Dambea rolls his infant stream. 
There, by the Naiads nursed, he sports away 
His playful youth, amid the fragrant isles, 
That with unfading verdure smile around. 
Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks ; 
And gathering many a flood, and copious fed 
With all the mellowed treasures of the sky. 
Winds in progressive majesty along : 
Through splendid kingdoms now devolves his 

maze ; 
Now wanders wild o'er solitary tracts 
Of life-deserted sand ; till, glad to quit 
The joyless desert, down the Nubian rocks 
From thundering steep to steep, he pours his 

urn. 
And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave. 

His brother Niger too, and all the floods 
In which the full-formed maids of Afric lave 
Their jetty limbs : and all that, from the tract 
Of woody mountains stretched through gor- 
geous Ind, 
Fall on Cormandel's coast, or Malabar ; 
From Menam's orient stream, that nightly 
shines 

67 



W^z Seasons^ 



With insect-lamps, to where Aurora sheds, 
On Indus' smiHng banks the rosy shower : 
All, at this bounteous season, ope their urns, 
And pour untoiling harvest o'er the land. 
Nor less thy world, Columbus, drinks, re- 
freshed, 
The lavish moisture of the melting year. 
Wide o'er his isles, the branching Oronoque 
Rolls a brown deluge, and the native drives 
To dwell aloft on life-sufficing trees, — 
At once his dome, his robe, his food, and 

arms. 
Swelled by a thousand streams, impetuous 

hurled 
From all the roaring Andes, huge descends 
The mighty Orellana. Scarce the Muse 
Dares stretch her wing o'er this enormous 

mass 
Of rushing waters ; scarce she dares attempt 
The sea-like Plata ; to whose dread expanse, 
Continuous depth, and wondrous length of 

course, 
Our floods are rills. With unabated force, 
In silent dignity they sweep along, 
68 



<Summet* 



And traverse realms unknown, and blooming 

wilds, 
And fruitful deserts, — worlds of solitude, 
Where the sun smiles and seasons teem in vain. 
Unseen and unenjoyed. Forsaking these. 
O'er peppled plains they, fair-diffusive, flow. 
And many a nation feed, and circle safe. 
In their soft bosom, many a happy isle ; 
The seat of blameless Pan, yet undisturbed 
By Christian crimes and Europe's cruel sons. 
Thus pouring on they proudly seek the deep. 
Whose vanquished tide, recoiling from the 

shock. 
Yields to this liquid weight of half the globe ; 
And ocean trembles for his green domain. 
But what avails this wondrous waste of 

wealth. 
This gay profusion of luxurious bliss, 
This pomp of Nature ? what their balmy meads. 
Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain ? 
By vagrant birds dispersed and wafting winds. 
What their unplanted fruits? what the cool 

draughts. 
The ambrosial food, rich gums, and spicy 

health, 71 



STfje Seasons* 



Their forests yield? their toiUng insects what, 
Their silky pride, and vegetable robes ? 
Ah! what avail their fatal treasures, hid 
Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth, 
Golconda's gems, and sad Potosi's mines. 
Where dwelt the gentlest children of the sun? 
What all that Afric's golden rivers roll. 
Her odorous woods, and shining ivory stores ? 
Ill-fated race ! the softening arts of peace ; 
Whatever the humanising muses teach ; 
The godlike wisdom of the tempered breast ; 
Progressive truth, the patient force of thought ; 
Investigation calm, whose silent powers 
Command the world ; the light that leads to 

heaven ; 
Kind equal rule, the government of laws. 
And all-protecting freedom, which alone 
Sustains the name and dignity of man, — 
These are not theirs. The parent sun himself 
Seems o'er this world of slaves to tyrannise ; 
And, with oppressive ray, the roseate bloom 
Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue. 
And feature gross : or worse, to ruthless 

deeds, 

72 



Summer^ 



Mad jealousy, blind rage, and fell revenge, 
Their fervid spirit fires. Love dwells not there : 
The soft regards, the tenderness of life, 
The heart-shed tear, the ineffable delight 
Of sweet humanity, — these court the beam 
Of milder climes ; in selfish fierce desire. 
And the wild fury of voluptuous sense. 
There lost. The very brute creation there 
This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire. 
Lo! the green serpent, from his dark abode, 
Which even imagination fears to tread. 
At noon forth-issuing, gathers up his train 
In orbs immense, then, darting out anew, 
Seeks the refreshing fount, by which diffused. 
He throws his folds : and while, with threaten- 
ing tongue. 
And deathful jaws erect, the monster curls 
His flaming crest, all other thirst, appalled. 
Or shivering flies, or checked at distance 

stands, 
Nor dares approach. But still more direful he. 
The small close-lurking minister of fate. 
Whose high-concocted venom through the 
veins 

73 



Wi}z Seasons^ 



A rapid lightning darts, arresting swift 
The vital current. Formed to humble man, 
This child of vengeful Nature ! There, sub- 
limed 
To fearless lust of blood, the savage race 
Roam, licensed by the shading hour of guilt 
And foul misdeed, when the pure day has shut 
His sacred eye. The tiger, darting fierce. 
Impetuous on the prey his glance has doomed, 
The lively shining leopard, speckled o'er 
With many a spot, the beauty of the waste ; 
And, scorning all the taming arts of man, 
The keen hyena, fellest of the fell : 
These, rushing from the inhospitable woods 
Of Mauritania, or the tufted isles 
That verdant rise amid the Libyan wild, 
Innumerous glare around their shaggy king, 
Majestic, stalking o'er the printed sand ; 
And, with imperious and repeated roars, 
Demand their fated food. The fearful flocks 
Crowd near the guardian swain ; the nobler 

herds. 
Where round their lordly bull, in rural ease. 
They ruminating lie, with horror hear 
74 



Summer* 



The coming rage. The awakened village 

starts ,• 
And to her fluttering breast the mother strains 
Her thoughtless infant. From the pirate's den, 
Or stern Morocco's tyrant fang, escaped, 
The wretch half wishes for his bonds again : 
While, uproar all, the wilderness resounds, 
From Atlas eastward to the frighted Nile. 
Unhappy he ! who from the first of joys, 
Society, cut off, is left alone 
Amid this world of death. Day after day, 
Sad on the jutting eminence he sits, 
And views the main that ever toils below ; 
Still fondly forming in the farthest verge, 
Where the round ether mixes with the wave. 
Ships, dim-discovered dropping from the 

clouds. 
At evening, to the setting sun he turns 
A mournful eye, and down his dying heart 
Sinks helpless ; while the wonted roar is up. 
And hiss continual through the tedious night. 
Yet here, even here, into these black abodes 
Of monsters, unappalled, from stooping Rome, 
And guilty Caesar, Liberty retired, 
IS 



STi^e Seasons* 



Her Cato following through Numidian wilds ; 
Disdainful of Campania's gentle plains, 
And all the green delights Ausonia pours, 
When for them she must bend the servile knee, 
And fawning take the splendid robber's boon. 
Nor stop the terrors of these regions here. 
Commissioned demons oft, angels of wrath, 
Let loose the raging elements. Breathed hot 
From all the boundless furnace of the sky, 
And the wide glittering waste of burning sand, 
A suffocating wind the pilgrim smites 
With instant death. Patient of thirst and toil, 
Son of the desert, e'en the camel feels, 
Shot through his withered heart, the fiery blast. 
Or from the black-red ether, bursting broad. 
Sallies the sudden whirlwind. Straight the 

sands, 
Commoved around, in gathering eddies play ; 
Nearer and nearer still they darkening come ; 
Till, with the general all-involving storm 
Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arise ; 
And by their noonday fount dejected thrown. 
Or sunk at night in sad disastrous sleep, 
Beneath descending hills, the caravan 

76 



Sutttnt0t» 



Is buried deep. In Cairo's crowded streets 
The impatient merchant, wondering, waits in 

vain, 
And Mecca saddens at the long delay. 

But chief at sea, whose every flexile wave 
Obeys the blast, the aerial tumult swells. 
In the dread ocean, undulating wide, 
Beneath the radiant line that girts the globe, 
The circling Typhon, whirled from point to 

point, 
Exhausting all the rage of all the sky. 
And dire Ecnephia reign. Amid the heavens, 
Falsely serene, deep in a cloudy speck 
Compressed, the mighty tempest brooding 

dwells. 
Of no regard, save to the skilful eye. 
Fiery and foul, the small prognostic hangs 
Aloft, or on the promontory's brow 
Musters its force. A faint deceitful calm, 
A fluttering gale, the demon sends before, 
To tempt the spreading sail. Then down at 

once. 
Precipitant, descends a mingled mass 
Of roaring winds, and flame, and rushing 

floods. ^^ 



^\}z Seasons* 



In wild amazement fixed the sailor stands. 
Art is too slow. By rapid Fate oppressed, 
His broad-winged vessel drinks the whelming 

tide, 
Hid in the bosom of the black abyss. 
With such mad seas the daring Gama fought, 
For many a day, and many a dreadful night. 
Incessant, labouring round the stormy cape ; 
By bold ambition led, and bolder thirst 
Of gold. For then from ancient gloom 

emerged 
The rising world of trade : the genius, then, 
Of navigation, that, in hopeless sloth. 
Had slumbered on the vast Atlantic deep. 
For idle ages, starting, heard at last 
The Lusitanian prince ; who. Heaven-inspired, 
To love of useful glory roused mankind. 
And in unbounded commerce mixed the world. 
Increasing still the terrors of these storms, 
His jaws horrific armed with threefold fate. 
Here dwells the direful shark. Lured by the 

scent 
Of steaming crowds, of rank disease, and 

death, 

78 



Summer* 



Behold, he, rushing, cuts the briny flood, 
Swift as the gale can bear the ship along ; 
And, from the partners of that cruel trade, 
Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons. 
Demands his share of prey, — demands them- 
selves. 




The stormy fates descend : one death involves 
Tyrants and slaves ; when straight, their man- 
gled limbs 

79 



STfje cSeasons* 



Crashing at once, he dyes the purple seas 
With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal. 

When o^er this world, by equinoctial rains 
Flooded immensCj looks out the joyless sun. 
And draws the copious steam from swampy 

fens, 
Where putrefaction into life ferments, 
And breathes destructive myriads; or from 

woods, 
Impenetrable shades, recesses foul. 
In vapours rank and blue corruption wrapt, 
Whose gloomy horrors yet no desperate foot 
Has ever dared to pierce ; then, wasteful, forth 
Walks the dire power of pestilent disease. 
A thousand hideous fiends her course attend, 
Sick Nature blasting, and to heartless woe 
And feeble desolation, casting down 
The towering hopes and all the pride of man. 
Such as, of late, at Carthagena quenched 
The British fire. You, gallant Vernon, saw 
The miserable scene ; you, pitying, saw 
To infant-weakness sunk the warrior's arm ; 
Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghastly form. 
The lip pale-quivering, and the beamless eye 
80 



Summer* 



No more with ardour bright ; you heard the 

groans 
Of agonising ships, from shore to shore ; 
Heard, nightly plunged amid the sullen waves, 
The frequent corse ; while on each other fixed. 
In sad presage, the blank assistants seemed. 
Silent, to ask, whom fate would next demand. 
What need I mention those inclement skies. 
Where, frequent o'er the sickening city, 

Plague, 
The fiercest child of Nemesis divine, 
Descends? from Ethiopia's poisoned woods. 
From stifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields 
With locust-armies putrefying heaped. 
This great destroyer sprung. Her awful rage 
The brutes escape. Man is her destined prey, 
Intemperate man! and, o'er his guilty domes 
She draws a close incumbent cloud of death ; 
Uninterrupted by the living winds. 
Forbid to blow a wholesome breeze ; and 

stained 
With many a mixture by the sun, suffused. 
Of angry aspect. Princely wisdom, then. 
Dejects his watchful eye ; and from the hand 
8i 



Wint Seasons* 



Of feeble justice, ineffectual, drop 

The sword and balance : mute the voice of 

joy? 

And hushed the clamour of the busy world : 
Empty the streets^ with uncouth verdure clad : 
Into the worst of deserts sudden turned 
The cheerful haunt of men: unless, escaped 
From the doomed house where matchless 

horror reigns. 
Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch, 
With frenzy wild, breaks loose, and, loud to 

Heaven 
Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns. 
Inhuman and unwise. The sullen door, 
Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge 
Fearing to turn, abhors society. 
Dependants, friends, relations, love himself, 
Savaged by woe, forget the tender tie, 
The sweet engagement of the feeling heart. 
But vain their selfish care : the circling sky. 
The wide enlivening air, is full of fate ; 
And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs 
They fall, unblest, untended, and unmourned. 
Thus o'er the prostrate city black Despair 
82 



Summer* 



Extends her raven wing : while, to complete 
The scene of desolation, stretched around, 
The grim guards stand, denying all retreat, 
And give the flying wretch a better death. 

Much yet remains unsung : the rage intense 
Of brazen- vaulted skies, of iron fields, 
Where drought and famine starve the blasted 

year; 
Fired by the torch of noon to tenfold rage, 
The infuriate hill that shoots the pillared 

flame ; 
And, roused within the subterranean world, 
The expanding earthquake, that resistless 

shakes 
Aspiring cities from their solid base. 
And buries mountains in the flaming gulf. 
But 't is enough ; return, my vagrant muse ; 
A nearer scene of horror calls thee home. 

Behold, slow-settling o'er the lurid grove. 
Unusual darkness broods ; and, growing, 

gains 
The full possession of the sky, surcharged 
With wrathful vapour, from the secret beds. 
Where sleep the mineral generations, drawn. 

83 



3C|je Seasons* 



Thence nitre, sulphur, and the fiery spume 
Of fat bitumen, steaming on the day, 
With various-tinctured trains of latent flame, 
Pollute the sky, and in yon baleful cloud, 
A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate. 
Ferment ; till, by the touch ethereal roused, 
The dash of clouds, or irritating war 
Of fighting winds, while all is calm below, 
They, furious, spring. A boding silence 

reigns. 
Dread, through the dun expanse ; save the 

dull sound 
That from the mountain, previous to the 

storm,. 
Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the 

flood. 
And shakes the forest-leaf without a breath. 
Prone, to the lowest vale, the aerial tribes 
Descend : the tempest-loving raven scarce 
Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful 

gaze 
The cattle stand, and on the scowling heav- 
ens 
Cast a deploring eye ; by man forsook, 

84 





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n? 


1 






1 




feri 






f^ 



Slimmer. 



Who to the crowded cottage hies hnn fast, 
Or seeks the sheher of the downward cave. 
'T is Hstening fear, and dumb amazement 

all; 
When to the startled eye the sudden glance 
Appears far south, eruptive through the 

cloud ; 
And following slower, in explosion vast, 
The thunder raises his tremendous voice. 
At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of 

heaven. 
The tempest growls ; but as it nearer comes, 
And rolls its awful burden on the wind. 
The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more 
The noise astounds ; till overhead a sheet 
Of livid flame discloses wide, then shuts, 
And opens wider ; shuts and opens still 
Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze. 
Follows the loosened aggravated roar. 
Enlarging, deepening, mingling, peal on 

peal 
Crushed horrible, convulsing heaven and 

earth. 
Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail, 

87 



2r|}0 Seasons* 



Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the 

clouds 
Pour a whole flood ; and yet, its flame un- 

quenched, 
The unconquerable lightning struggles 

through, 
Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls. 
And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. 
Black from the stroke, above, the smoulder- 
ing pine 
Stands a sad shattered trunk ; and, stretched 

below, 
A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie : 
Here the soft flocks, with that same harmless 

look 
They wore alive, and ruminating still 
In fancy's eye ; and there the frowning bull. 
And ox half raised. Struck on the castled 

cliff. 
The venerable tower and spiry fane 
Resign their aged pride. The gloomy woods 
Start at the flash, and, from their deep recess, 
Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates 

shake. 



Summer, 



Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud 
The repercussive roar : with mighty crush, 
Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks 
Of Penmanmaur, heaped hideous to the sky, 
Tumble the smitten cliffs ; and Snowden's 

peak. 
Dissolving, instant yields his wintry load. 
Far seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze, 
And Thule bellows through her utmost isles. 
Guilt hears appalled, with deeply troubled 
thought ; 
And yet not always on the guilty head 
Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon 
And his Amelia were a matchless pair, 
With equal virtue formed, and equal grace. 
The same, distinguished by their sex alone : 
Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn, 
And his the radiance of the risen day. 

They loved : but such their guileless pas- 
sion was, 
As in the dawn of time informed the heart 
Of innocence and undissembling truth. 
'T was friendship heightened by the mutual 
wish ; 

89 



2Cf)e Seasons, 



The enchanting hope, and sympathetic glow, 
Beamed from the mutual eye. Devoting all 
To love, each was to each a dearer self; 
Supremely happy in the awakened power 
Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades. 
Still in harmonious intercourse they lived 
The rural day, and talked the flowing heart, 
Or sighed, and looked unutterable things. 

So passed their life, a clear united stream. 
By care unruffled ; till, in evil hour. 
The tempest caught them on the tender walk. 
Heedless how far and where its mazes strayed. 
While, with each other blest, creative love 
Still bade eternal Eden smile around. 
Heavy with instant fate, her bosom heaved 
Unwonted sighs, and stealing oft a look 
Of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye 
Fell tearful, wetting her disordered cheek. 
In vain assuring love, and confidence 
In Heaven repressed her fear; it grew, and 

shook 
Her frame near dissolution. He perceived 
The unequal conflict, and, as angels look 
On dying saints, his eyes compassion shed, 
90 



Summer^ 




With love illumined high. "Fear not/' he 

said, 
" Sweet Innocence! thou stranger to offence 
91 



2r|)e ^Seasons* 



And inward storm! He who yon skies in- 
volves 
In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee 
With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft 
That wastes at midnight, or the undreaded 

hour 
Of noon, flies harmless : and that very voice, 
Which thunders terror through the guilty 

heart. 
With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to 

thine. 
'T is safety to be near thee sure, and thus 
To clasp Perfection ! " From his void em- 
brace. 
Mysterious Heaven! that moment, to the 

ground, 
A blackened corse, was struck the beauteous 

maid. 
But who can paint the lover, as he stood, 
Pierced by severe amazement, hating life, 
Speechless, and fixed in all the death of woe! 
So, faint resemblance ! on the marble tomb. 
The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands, 
Forever silent and forever sad. 
92 



Summer, 



As from the face of Heaven the shattered 

clouds 
Tumultuous rove, the interminable sky 
Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands 
A purer azure. Nature from the storm 
Shines out afresh ; and through the lightened 

air 
A higher lustre and a clearer calm, 
Diffusive, tremble ; while, as if in sign 
Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy, 
Set off abundant by the yellow ray. 
Invests the fields, yet dropping from distress. 

'T is beauty all, and grateful song around. 
Joined to the low of kine, and numerous bleat 
Of flocks thick-nibbling through the clovered 

vale. 
And shall the hymn be marred by thankless 

man. 
Most favoured ; who with voice articulate 
Should lead the chorus of this lower world ? 
Shall he, so soon forgetful of the Hand 
That hushed the thunder, and serenes the sky, 
Extinguished feel that spark the tempest 

waked, 

93 



8Ef}e Seasons* 



That sense of powers exceeding far his own, 
Ere yet his feeble heart has lost its fears ? 
Cheered by the milder beam, the sprightly 

youth 
Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal 

depth 
A sandy bottom shows. Awhile he stands 
Gazing the inverted landscape, half afraid 
To meditate the blue profound below ; 
Then plunges headlong down the circling 

flood. 
His ebon tresses and his rosy cheek 
Instant emerge ; and through the obedient 

wave. 
At each short breathing by his lip repelled, 
With arms and legs according well, he makes, 
As humour leads, an easy-winding path ; 
While, from his polished sides, a dewy light 
Effuses on the pleased spectators round. 

This is the purest exercise of health, 
The kind refresher of the Summer-heats ; 
Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening 

flood. 
Would I, weak-shivering, linger on the brink. 
94 



Summer* 



Thus life redoubles ; and is oft preserved, 
By the bold swimmer, in the swift elapse 
Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs 
Knit into force ; and the same Roman arm 
That rose victorious o'er the conquered earth, 
First learned, while tender, to subdue the 

wave. 
Even from the body's purity, the mind 
Receives a secret sympathetic aid. 

Close in the covert of an hazel copse. 
Where, winded into pleasing solitudes. 
Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon 

sat, 
Pensive, and pierced with love's delightful 

pangs. 
There to the stream that down the distant 

rocks 
Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze 

that played 
Among the bending willows, falsely he 
Of Musidora's cruelty complained. 
She felt his flame ; but deep within her breast, 
In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride. 
The soft return concealed, — save when it 

stole 95 



STfje Seasons* 



In sidelong glances from her downcast eye, 
Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs. 
Touched by the scene, no stranger to his 

vows, 
He framed a melting lay, to try her heart ; 
And, if an infant passion struggled there. 
To call that passion forth. Thrice happy 

swain ! 
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate 
Of mighty monarchs, then decided thine. 
For lo ! conducted by the laughing loves, 
This cool retreat his Musidora sought : 
Warm in her cheek the sultry season glowed ; 
And, robed in loose array, she came to bathe 
Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream. 
What shall he do? In sweet confusion lost. 
And dubious flutterings, he a while remained. 
A pure ingenuous elegance of soul, 
A delicate refinement, known to few. 
Perplexed his breast, and urged him to retire. 
But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, say. 
Say, ye severest, what would you have done ? 
Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever blest 
Arcadian stream, with timid eye around 

96 



Summer. 



The banks surveying, stripped her beauteous 

limbs, 
To taste the lucid coolness of the flood. 
Ah then, not Paris on the piny top 
Of Ida panted stronger, when aside 
The rival goddesses the veil divine 
Cast unconfined, and gave him all their 

charms, 
Than, Damon, thou ; as from the snowy leg, 
And slender foot, the inverted silk she drew ; 
As the soft touch dissolved the virgin zone ; 
And, through the parting robe, the alternate 

breast. 
With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless 

gaze 
In full luxuriance rose. But, desperate youth, 
How durst thou risk the soul-distracting view ; 
As from her naked limbs, of glowing white, 
Harmonious swelled by Nature's finest hand. 
In folds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn, 
And fair exposed she stood, shrunk from her- 
self. 
With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze 
Alarmed, and starting like the fearful fawn ? 
99 



SCfje &zmom. 



Then to the flood she rushed ; the parted 

flood 
Its lovely guest with closing waves received ; 
And every beauty softening, every grace 
Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed : 
As shines the lily through the crystal mild, 
Or as the rose amid the morning dew, 
Fresh from Aurora^s hand, more sweetly 

glows. 
While thus she wantoned, now beneath the 

wave 
But ill-concealed, and now with streaming 

locks. 
That half embraced her in a humid veil. 
Rising again, the latent Damon drew 
Such maddening draughts of beauty to the 

soul. 
As for a while overwhelmed his raptured 

thought 
With luxury too daring. Checked, at last. 
By love's respectful modesty, he deemed 
The theft profane, if aught profane to love 
Can e'er be deemed, and, struggling, from the 

shade, 

100 



Summer* 



With headlong hurry fled : but first these 

lines, 
Traced by his ready pencil, on the bank 
With trembling hand he threw. " Bathe on, 

my fair, 
Yet unbeheld save by the sacred eye 
Of faithful love. I go to guard thy haunt. 
To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot, 
And each licentious eye." With wild surprise, 
As if to marble struck, devoid of sense, 
A stupid moment motionless she stood : 
So stands the statue that enchants the world ; 
So, bending, tries to veil the matchless boast, 
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece. 
Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes 
Which blissful Eden knew not ; and, arrayed 
In careless haste, the alarming paper snatched. 
But, when her Damon^s well-known hand she 

saw. 
Her terrors vanished, and a softer train 
Of mixed emotions, hard to be described. 
Her sudden bosom seized : shame void of 

guilt. 
The charming blush of innocence, esteem 

lOI 



2Cf)e Seasons, 



And admiration of her lover's flame, 

By modesty exalted. E'en a sense 

Of self-approving beauty stole across 

Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm 

Hushed by degrees the tumult of her soul ; 

And on the spreading beech, that o'er the 

stream 
Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen 
Of rural lovers this confession carved, 
Which soon her Damon kissed with weeping 

joy : 
" Dear youth, sole judge of what these verses 

mean. 
By fortune too much favoured, but by love, 
Alas! not favoured less, be still as now 
Discreet : the time may come you need not 

fly." 
The sun has lost his rage : his downward 

orb 
Shoots nothing now but animating warmth 
And vital lustre ; that, with various ray. 
Lights up the clouds, — those beauteous robes 

of heaven. 
Incessant rolled into romantic shapes ; 

102 



Summer* 



The dream of waking fancy ! Broad below, 
Covered with ripening fruits, and swelHng fast 
Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth 
And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour 
Of walking comes ; for him who lonely loves 
To seek the distant hills, and there converse 
With Nature, there to harmonise his heart, 
And in pathetic song to breathe around 
The harmony to others. Social friends, 
Attuned to happy unison of soul ; 
To whose exalting eye a fairer world. 
Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse, 
Displays its charms ; whose minds are richly 

fraught 
With philosophic stores, superior light ; 
And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns 
Virtue the sons of interest deem romance. 
Now called abroad enjoy the falling day : 
Now to the verdant portico of woods. 
To Nature^s vast lyceum, forth they walk ; 
By that kind school where no proud master 

reigns. 
The full free converse of a friendly heart. 
Improving and improved. Now from the 

world, 103 



E\}z Seasons* 



Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal, 
And pour their souls in transport, which the 

sire 
Of love approving hears, and calls it good. 
Which way, Amanda, shall we bend our 

course ? 
The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we 

choose? 
All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind 
Along the streams ? or walk the smiling mead ? 
Or court the forest glades ? or wander wild 
Among the waving harvests ? or ascend. 
While radiant summer opens all its pride, 
Thy hill, delightful Shene? Here let us 

sweep 
The boundless landscape : now the raptured 

eye, 
Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send, 
Now to the sister hills that skirt her plain. 
To lofty Harrow now, and now to where 
Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow. 
In lovely contrast to this glorious view, 
Calmly magnificent, then will we turn 
To where the silver Thames first rural grows. 
104 



Summer* 



There let the feasted eye unwearied stray ; 
Luxurious, there, rove through the pendant 

woods 
That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat ; 
And, stooping thence to Ham's embowering 

walks, 
Beneath whose shades, in spotless peace re- 
tired, 
With her, the pleasing partner of his heart, 
The worthy Queensberry yet laments his Gay, 
And polished Cornbury wooes the willing 

Muse, 
Slow let us trace the matchless vale of Thames ; 
Fair winding up to where the Muses haunt 
In Twit'nam's bowers, and for their Pope 

implore 
The healing god, to royal Hampton's pile. 
To Clermont's terraced height, and Esher's 

groves, 
Where in the sweetest solitude, embraced 
By the soft windings of the silent mole. 
From courts and senates Pelham finds repose. 
Enchanting vale ! beyond whate'er the Muse 
Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung ! 
105 



3C{}£ Seasons* 



O vale of bliss ! O softly swelling hills ! 
On which the power of cultivation lies, 
And joys to see the wonders of his toil. 
Heavens ! what a goodly prospect spreads 

around, 
Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, 

and spires. 
And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till 

all 
The stretching landscape into smoke decays ! 
Happy Britannia! where the queen of arts. 
Inspiring vigour, Liberty abroad 
Walks, unconfined, even to thy farthest cots, 
And scatters plenty with unsparing hand. 
Rich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime ; 
Thy streams unfailing in the summer's 

drought ; 
Unmatched thy guardian oaks ; thy valleys 

float 
With golden waves ; and on thy mountains 

flocks 
Bleat numberless ; while, roving round their 

sides, 
Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves. 
1 06 



Summer* 



Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rise un- 

quelled 
Against the mower's scythe. On every hand 
Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with 

wealth ; 
And property assures it to the swain, 
Pleased and unwearied in his guarded toil. 

Full are thy cities with the sons of art ; 
And trade and joy, in every busy street, 
Mingling are heard ;- even Drudgery himself, 
As at the car he sweats, or, dusty, hews 
The palace stone, looks gay. Thy crowded 

ports. 
Where rising masts an endless prospect yield. 
With labour burn, and echo to the shouts 
Of hurried sailor, as he, hearty, waves 
His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet. 
Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind. 
Bold, firm, and graceful are thv generous 

youth, 
By hardship sinewed, and by danger fired. 
Scattering the nations where they go ; and 

first 
Or on the listed plain, or stormy seas. 
109 



^\jz Seasons* 



Mild are thy glories too, as o^er the plans 
Of thriving peace thy thoughtful sires pre- 
side ; 
In genius, and substantial learnings high ; 
For every virtue, every worth renowned ; 
Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind ; 
Yet like the mustering thunder when pro- 
voked, 
The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource 
Of those that under grim oppression groan. 
Thy sons of glory many ! Alfred thine. 
In whom the splendour of heroic war. 
And more heroic peace, when governed well. 
Combine ; whose hallowed name the virtues 

saint. 
And his own Muses love — the best of 

kings ! 
With him thy Edwards and thy Henries 

shine. 
Names dear to fame ; the first who deep im- 
pressed 
On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms, 
That awes her genius still. In statesmen thou. 
And patriots, fertile. Thine a steady More, 
no 



Summer* 



Who, with a generous though mistaken zeal, 

Withstood a brutal tyrant's useful rage. 

Like Cato firm, like Aristides just, 

Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor — 

A dauntless soul erect, who smiled on death. 

Frugal and wise, a Walsingham is thime, 

A Drake, who made thee mistress of the deep. 

And bore thy name in thunder round the 

world. 
Then flamed thy spirit high : but who can 

speak 
The numerous worthies of the maiden reign? 
In Raleigh mark their every glory mixed ; 
Raleigh, the scourge of Spain ! whose breast 

with all 
The sage, the patriot, and the hero burned. 
Nor sunk his vigour, when a coward-reign 
The warrior fettered, and at last resigned. 
To glut the vengeance of a vanquished foe. 
Then, active still and unrestrained, his mind 
Explored the vast extent of ages past. 
And with his prison-hours enriched the world ; 
Yet found no times, in all the long research. 
So glorious, or so base, as those he proved, 
III 



2E{}e Seasons. 



In which he conquered^ and in which he bled. 
Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pass. 
The plume of war ! with early laurels crowned, 
The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay. 
A Hampden too is thine, illustrious land, 
Wise, strenuous, firm, of unsubmitting soul. 
Who stemmed the torrent of a downward 

age 
To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again. 
In all thy native pomp of freedom bold. 
Bright, at his call, thy age of men effulged ; 
Of men on whom late time a kindling eye 
Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they 

read. 
Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew 
The grave where Russel lies * whose tempered 

blood, 
With calmest cheerfulness for thee resigned. 
Stained the sad annals of a giddy reign. 
Aiming at lawless power, though meanly sunk 
In loose inglorious luxury. With him 
His friend, the British Cassius, fearless bled ; 
Of high determined spirit roughly brave. 
By ancient learning to the enlightened love 

112 



Summer* 



Of ancient freedom warmed. Fair thy re- 
nown 
In awful sages and in noble bards ; 
Soon as the light of dawning science spread 
Her orient ray, and waked the Muses' song. 
Thine is a Bacon, hapless in his choice, 
Unfit to stand the civil storm of state, 
And through the smooth barbarity of courts, 
With firm but pliant virtue, forward still 
To urge his course. Him for the studious 

shade 
Kind nature formed, deep, comprehensive, 

clear, 
Exact, and elegant ; in one rich soul, 
Plato, the Stagirite, and Tully joined. 
The great deliverer he ! who, from the gloom 
Of cloistered monks, and jargon-teaching 

schools. 
Led forth the true Philosophy, there long 
Held in the magic chain of words and forms, 
And definitions void : he led her forth, 
Daughter of Heaven ! that slow-ascending 

still. 
Investigating sure the chain of things, 
113 



Wi}t Seasons* 



With radiant finger points to Heaven again. 
The generous Ashley thine, the friend of man ; 
Who scanned his nature with a brother's eye, 
His weakness prompt to shade, to raise his 

aim, 
To touch the finer movements of the mind, 
And with the moral beauty charm the heart. 
Why need I name thy Boyle, whose pious 

search. 
Amid the dark recesses of his works, 
The great Creator sought? And why thy 

Locke, 
Who made the whole internal world his own ? 
Let Newton, pure intelligence, whom God 
To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works 
From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame 
In all philosophy. For lofty sense. 
Creative fancy, and inspection keen 
Through the deep windings of the human 

heart, 
Is not wild Shakespeare thine and Nature's 

boast ? 
Is not each great, each amiable Muse 
Of classic ages in thy Milton met ? — 
114 



Stimnter* 




A genius universal as his theme^ 
Astonishing as chaos, as the bloom 
Of blowing Eden fair, as Heaven sublime. 
115 



Wt}z Seasons* 



Nor shall my verse that elder bard forget, 
The gentle Spenser, Fancy's pleasing son ; 
Who, like a copious river, poured his song 
O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground : 
Nor thee, his ancient master, laughing sage, 
Chaucer, whose native manners-painting verse, 
Well moralised, shines through the gothic 

cloud 
Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown . 

May my song soften, as thy daughters I, 
Britannia, hail ! for beauty is their own, 
The feeling heart, simplicity of life. 
And elegance, and taste : the faultless form, 
Shaped by the hand of harmony ; the cheek, 
Where the live crimson, through the native 

white 
Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom, 
And every nameless grace ; the parted lip, 
Like the red rosebud moist with morning dew, 
Breathing delight ; and, under flowing jet. 
Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown, 
The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling 

breast ; 
The look resistless, piercing to the soul, 
ii6 



Summer* 



And by the soul informed, when dressed in 

love 
She sits high-smiling in the conscious eye. 

Island of bliss ! amid the subject seas, 
That thunder round thy rocky coasts, set up, 
At once the wonder, terror, and delight 
Of distant nations ; whose remotest shore 
Can soon be shaken by thy naval arm ; 
Not to be shook thyself, but all assaults 
Baffling, like thy hoar cliifs the loud sea-wave. 
O Thou ! by whose almighty nod the scale 
Of empire rises, or alternate falls, 
Send forth the saving virtues round the land, 
In bright patrol : white Peace, and social 

Love; 
The tender-looking Charity, intent 
On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through 

smiles ; 
Undaunted Truth, and Dignity of Mind : 
Courage composed, and keen ; sound Tem- 
perance, 
Healthful in heart and look ; clear Chastity, 
With blushes reddening as she moves along. 
Disordered at the deep regard she draws ; 
117 



Wi}z Seasons* 



Rough Industry ; Activity untired, 
With copious Hfe informed, and all awake : 
While in the radiant front, superior shines 
That first paternal virtue, Public Zeal ; 
Who throws o\er all an equal wide survey, 
And, ever musing on the common weal, 
Still labours glorious with some great design. 
Low walks the sun, and broadens by de- 
grees. 
Just o'er the verge of day . The shifting clouds 
Assembled gay, a richly gorgeous train. 
In all their pomp attend his setting throne. 
Air, earth, and ocean smile immense. And 

now. 
As if his weary chariot sought the bowers 
Of Amphitrite, and her tending nymphs 
(So Grecian fable sung) , he dips his orb ; 
Now half immersed ; and now a golden curve. 
Gives one bright glance, then total disappears. 

Forever running an enchanted round. 
Passes the day, deceitful, vain, and void; 
As fleets the vision o'er the formful brain. 
This moment hurrying wild the impassioned 
soul, 

ii8 



Sumtner* 



The next in nothing lost. 'T is so to him, 
The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank: 
A sight of horror to the cruel wretch, 
Who all day long in sordid pleasure rolled, 
Himself a useless load, has squandered vile. 
Upon his scoundrel train, what might have 

cheered 
A drooping family of modest worth. 
But to the generous still-improving mind, 
That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy, 
Diffusing kind beneficence around, 
Boastless, as now descends the silent dew, — 
To him the long review of ordered life 
Is inward rapture, only to be felt. 

Confessed from yonder slow-extinguished 

clouds. 
All ether softening, sober Evening takes 
Her wonted station in the middle air ; 
A thousand shadows at her beck. First this 
She sends on earth ; then that, of deeper dye, 
Steals soft behind ; and then a deeper still, 
In circle following circle, gathers round, 
To close the face of things. A fresher gale 
Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream, 
119 



2Cf)t Seasons* 



Sweeping with shadowy gust the fields of 

corn; 
While the quail clamours for his running mate. 
Wide o'er the thistly lawn^ as swells the 

breeze, 
A whitening shower of vegetable down 
Amusive floats. The kind impartial care 
Of Nature naught disdains : thoughtful to feed 
Her lowest sons, and clothe the coming year, 
From field to field the feathered seeds she 

wings. 
His folded flock secure, the shepherd home 
Hies, merry-hearted ; and by turns relieves 
The ruddy milkmaid of her brimming pail ; 
The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart. 
Unknowing what the joy-mixed anguish 

means, 
Sincerely loves, by that best language shown 
Of cordial glances, and obliging deeds. 
Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height, 
And valley sunk and unfrequented ; where 
At fall of eve the fairy people throng, 
In various game and revelry to pass 
The summer-night, as village-stories tell. 

120 



Sutttttitt* 



But far about they wander from the grave 
Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urged 
Against his own sad breast to lift the hand 
Of impious violence. The lonely tower 
Is also shunned ; whose mournful chambers 

hold, 
So night-struck Fancy dreams, the yelling 
ghost. 
Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge, 
The glow-worm lights his gem ; and through 

the dark, 
A moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields 
The world to night ; not in her winter-robe 
Of massy Stygian woof, but loose arrayed 
In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray, 
Glanced from the imperfect surfaces of things, 
Flings half an image on the straining eye ; 
While wavering woods, and villages, and 

streams, 
And rocks, and mountain-tops, that long re- 
tained 
The ascending gleam, are all one swimming 

scene, 
Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven 

121 



Wi)z &tmom. 



Thence weary vision turns ; where, leading 

soft 
The silent hours of love, with purest ray 
Sweet Venus shines ; and from her genial rise, 
When daylight sickens till it springs afresh, 
Unrivalled reigns, the fairest lamp of night. 
As thus the effulgence tremulous I drink, 
With cherished gaze, the lambent lightnings 

shoot 
Across the sky ; or horizontal dart 
In wondrous shapes : by fearful murmuring 

crowds 
Portentous deemed. Amid the radiant orbs. 
That more than deck, that animate the sky. 
The life-infusing suns of other worlds, 
Lo ! from the dread immensity of space 
Returning, with accelerated course. 
The rushing comet to the sun descends ; 
And as he sinks below the shading earth, 
With awful train projected o'er the heavens, 
The guilty nations tremble. But, above 
Those superstitious horrors that enslave 
The fond sequacious herd, to mystic faith 
And blind amazement prone, the enlightened 

few, 122 



Summer. 



Whose godlike minds philosophy exalts, 
The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy 
Divinely great ; they in their powers exult, 
That wondrous force of thought, which mount- 
ing spurns 
This dusky spot, and measures all the sky ; 
While, from his far excursion through the 

wilds 
Of barren ether, faithful to his time, 
They see the blazing wonder rise anew, 
In seeming terror clad, but kindly bent 
To work the will of all-sustaining Love ; 
From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shake 
Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs 
Through which his long ellipsis winds ; per- 
haps 
To lend new fuel to declining suns. 
To light up worlds, and feed the eternal fire. 

With thee, serene Philosophy, with thee. 
And thy bright garland, let me crown my 

song ! 
Effusive source of evidence and truth ! 
A lustre shedding o^er the ennobled mind, 
Stronger than summer-noon ; and pure as that 
123 



Cfte Seasons* 



Whose mild vibrations soothe the parted soul, 
New to the dawning of celestial day. 
Hence through her nourished powers, en- 
larged by thee, 
She springs aloft, with elevated pride, 
Above the tangling mass of low desires, 
That bind the fluttering crowd ; and, angel- 
winged. 
The heights of science and of virtue gains, 
Where all is calm and clear ; with Nature 

round, 
Or in the starry regions, or the abyss. 
To Reason's and to Fancy's eye displayed : 
The first up-tracing, from the dreary void. 
The chain of causes and effects to Him, 
The world-producing Essence, who alone 
Possesses being ; while the last receives 
The whole magnificence of heaven and earth. 
And every beauty, delicate or bold. 
Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense. 
Diffusive painted on the rapid mind. 

Tutored by thee, hence Poetry exalts 
Her voice to ages ; and informs the page 
With music, image, sentiment, and thought, 
124 



Summer* 



Never to die ; the treasure of mankind, 
Their highest honour, and their truest joy! 
Without thee what were unenHghtened 

man? 
A savage, roaming through the woods and 

wilds 
In quest of prey, and with the unfashioned fur 
Rough -clad ; devoid of every finer art, 
And elegance of life. Nor happiness 
Domestic, mixed of tenderness and care. 
Nor moral excellence, nor social bliss. 
Nor guardian law, were his ; nor various skill 
To turn the furrow, or to guide the tool 
Mechanic ; nor the Heaven-conducted prow 
Of navigation bold, that fearless braves 
The burning line or dares the wintry pole, 
Mother severe of infinite delights! 
Nothing, save rapine, indolence, and guile, 
And woes on woes, a still-revolving train. 
Whose horrid circle had made human life 
Than non-existence worse : but, taught by 

thee. 
Ours are the plans of poHcy, and peace ; 
To live like brothers, and, conjunctive all, 
125 



2r|}e Seasons* 



Embellish life. While thus laborious crowds 

Ply the tough oar, Philosophy directs 

The ruling helm ; or, like the liberal breath 

Of potent heaven, invisible, the sail 

Swells out, and bears the inferior world along. 

Nor to this evanescent speck of earth 
Poorly confined : the radiant tracts on high 
Are her exalted range ; intent to gaze 
Creation through ; and, from that full complex 
Of neverending wonders, to conceive 
Of the Sole Being right, who spoke the word. 
And Nature moved complete. With inward 

view, 
Thence on the ideal kingdom swift she turns 
Her eye ; and instant, at her powerful glance. 
The obedient phantoms vanish or appear. 
Compound, divide, and into order shift. 
Each to his rank, from plain perception up 
To the fair forms of fancy's fleeting train : 
To reason then, deducing truth from truth, 
And notion quite abstract ; where first begins 
The world of spirits, action all, and life 
Unfettered and unmixt. But here the cloud. 
So wills eternal Providence, sits deep. 
126 



Summer^ 



Enough for us to know that this dark state, 

In wayward passions lost and vain pursuits, 

This infancy of being, cannot prove 

The final issue of the works of God, 

By boundless love and perfect wisdom formed, 

And ever rising: with the risino: mind. 




127 



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NOV 85 

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




